winter fun

I took Millie and her friend Haru to the park the other day. They played at the park for about 5 minutes and then decided it would be more fun to wander off into the woods and climb over tree trunks, chase squirrels, and crawl around on the forest floor. They had a great time and had a lot of good laughs together.






Below are some pics of two different days when Millie wanted to eat avacados. She loved them when she was a baby, but hasn't been too interested in them for a while. But recently, she's decided they're good again.


Life if good for us. It's pretty cold here now, but the snow is beautiful and it's actually staying rather than melting and looking like slush.

Kyle took Millie to get her blood drawn on Saturday because the doc's office called and wanted us to bring her in because she's never been tested for lead poisoning and they want all children to be. Anyways, Kyle was a bit nervous to be the "mean guy" rather than the nice daddy (usually on Sat mornings he takes her on fun dates, but never to do something brutal like having her blood drawn). But after all the worries, Millie did great and Kyle survived too. Kyle help lay Millie down on a table and held one arm down. Then so she wouldn't watch them stick the needle in, he put his hand on the other side of her face and turned it towards him and talked to her while the nurse did the shot. He said she didn't even notice it. She got a big bandage with gauze wrapped around her arm. She LOVED it and didn't want us to take it off. So we let her wear it for the rest of the day and through the night, but the next morning we took it off.

We are excited to visit family for Christmas in just a couple weeks. It will be fun to see the mountains again and to see everyone.

Halloween and other fun times

We went trick or treating in the neighborhood by our house where our friends Amy and Don live. Our friends Katie and Scott and their daughter Lannie joined us along with Katie's mom. We have really enjoyed our friendship with this family and we had a great time with them. As you can see, Millie was a unicorn and Lannie was Snow White. We stopped at Amy's house to trickortreat and she invited us in. It was nice to have a pit-stop for the little ones to go potty and rest a bit and visit with the doggies and whatnot.

Kyle with the two trick or treaters

Daddies and their girls

Millie after the church's Halloween party. Even though she's changed out of her costume, she still has the remnants of a smiley face she had painted on her cheek at the party. Millie enjoyed walking around the church trick or treating on Wednesday night and doing the other activities.


Millie as a unicorn with a double chin


The picture below is funny and has a funny story. This is Millie in her unicorn costume throwing a tantrum about something. Sometimes when she's upset about something, she'll throw herself onto the couch and scream and cry. You can't tell that she's doing this in the picture and that makes it even funnier.

Millie feeding her baby.

Millie likes to put her baby/babies into her shirt or pajamas. While they're in there, she either says they're eating or sleeping. In the following pictures, she has both of her baby dolls inside her pajamas. She kept them in there for at least half an hour and then fed them with a bottle afterwards. While they were in her PJ's, if she tried to pick something up or bend over, she wouldn't be able to get back up again without my help because the babies limited her ability to move. It was very funny and reminded me of how it feels to be pregnant. Quite often when Millie takes her babies out of her shirt/sweater/or pajamas, she says the baby is being born and then that it needs her to feed it. I guess she's learning about these things from someone even though we don't have a baby around our house...

FIGHT CANCER!!!

My friend and neighbor Angie started a way cool not for profit cancer project called Nana's Box. Please tell anyone you know about it. Read her story at http://nanasboxnonprofit.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-side-of-things.html or enter her monthly giveaways at nanasboxnonprofit.blogspot.com

We will be posting pictures of Halloween soon... so stay tuned!

Tye

You mission, should you choose to accept it, IS TO VOTE!

Hey everyone!

So, I have always voted Republican since I started voting about 10 years ago. My parents are good people and they told me who I was voting for and I always decided to do the same. I've never been very into politics and I've never been very informed about the issues in the world, so I took their word for it and let them (mostly my dad) study it all out.

Everyone knows that this election is tough. Nobody I know seems to be 100% for either candidate (or maybe that's how it always is but now I'm finally starting to pay attention to it).

I decided that this year, I wanted to start learning about the difference between Republicans and Democrats and about the issues that are out there so I would know who to vote for. I decided that reading the news and listening to the debates wouldn't really be helpful unless I learned some of this basic information first. So, I decided that I should talk to some people who are very democrat and some people who are very repulican and ask them why they are what they are. I've had some very insightful conversations and found out about people's passions and interests.

I am not going to summarize what people have told me about what a democrat or a republican is or what the issues are. Republicans and democrats and everyone in between are people- and they all seem to want peace in the world and happiness for their families and a safe environment to live in. It is hard to choose sides because there is much good on both sides.

Through my conversations with various awesome people, I have come to a conclusion of who to vote for. I care about all the issues that are out there- it's impossible for me to say that I only care about the issues of one or the other (dem.s or rep.s). I care about world peace, finding alternative fuel sources, animal rights, energy conservation, etc, etc. But there are some issues that take precedence over all the others. These issues are the family unit and life.

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (yep, that's my church) places particularly strong emphasis on the family.

Here are some links to some of the Church's most recent statements about marriage and the family... (If you read the article "The Divine Institution of Marriage," you will start to understand how much change could potentially happen in society if marriage between a man and a woman is changed to any other arrangement)

Letter from the First Presidency to California Latter-day Saints

This letter, regarding Proposition 8, was sent from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Church leaders in California to be read to all congregations on 29 June 2008.

The Divine Institution of Marriage

This in-depth article explains the importance of protecting the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

ProtectMarriage.com

This is the official Web site of ProtectMarriage, a coalition supporting Proposition 8.

PreservingMarriage.org

This Web site provides multimedia resources to help Latter-day Saints and others better understand the Church’s position on Proposition 8.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

This proclamation, released by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1995, emphasizes the importance of the family.

Video: Discussion With Elder David A. Bednar

Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, discusses Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage with a group of young adults.

Video: Broadcast to Church Members in California

Elders M. Russell Ballard, Quentin L. Cook and L. Whitney Clayton talk to Californian Church members about becoming involved in supporting Proposition 8.

Video: “I Support Proposition 8”

Young adults from California discuss their involvement in preserving traditional marriage.

Video Resources: PreservingMarriage.org

Additional videos explaining the Church’s stance on this issue are available on PreservingMarriage.org

Okay it's me again. I just have one more link. Melanie sent this to me and I thought it was great. Before I saw it, I'd come to the conclusion that protecting marriage and the family was the most important issue because the fundamental unit of society is the thread that holds the people of this nation together.

The link I'm going to share with you is to a video intended for Catholic voters. Although my church places particularly strong emphasis on the family, the church does not endorse any particular candidate or any political party. My church encourages its members to study and learn about the candidates and the issues and then to make a personal choice of who to vote for.

http://www.catholicvote.com/

Reeder Happenings!

Here is our little Millie-kins making birthday cards for Grandpa Guymon and Reeder at the beginning of September. She enjoyed this a whole lot. She started singing "happy birthday to you" for the first time that day. She sings it "aaaahhhh dur- day- oooooo." After we made cards that day, I think she might have thought it was her birthday because when we sat down to eat dinner a couple hours later, she cried because we weren't having any birthday cake.

Millie really enjoyed sitting on Rosa Park's bus at the Henry Ford Museum. We let her wander around the museum by herself (with us walking behind her) and she felt like such a big girl. The Henry Ford museum is huge, and we only saw a litte bit of it this day. We plan on going back soon.

Millie is in front of Greenfield Village here. She really enjoyed giving the card to the lady at the gate. This day we went with the Ashcrafts (the Husband, Chris, goes to school with Kyle). Jenn and Chris have 2 kids, Reagan (about 6) and Spenser (14), Millie likes them both. Spenser watches Millie sometimes. Millie likes hangin around an older girl.

I believe that this is the first picture that Millie has actually posed for, aside from stuidios with Grandma Reeder. We asked her if she wanted her picture taken, she said yes steped back and gave us a nice cheesy smile.

As we are taking Amtrak back to Utah for Christmas, we are trying to get Millie excited for the train ride. Kyle and Millie like watching train videos on Youtube, and Millie especially likes riding the steam train at Greenfield Village, as you can see here. She'll have fun watching train videos with Grandpa Reeder at Christmas time (because he is a train fanatic!).

Mille loves this duck at the park behind our apartment. When we go to the park she always smiles, points, and says "duck!" As of a few weeks ago she likes to get on by herself and will have no part in Mom or Dad helping her get up or down. She hasn't fallen yet, but we're waiting.

Mille has become a very good ladder climber, much like her Grandpa Guymon (electricain extraordinaire!). Maybe she'll give Grandpa some pointers when she sees him next:)! Hopefully she sticks to small ladders for the time being.

We love you all and hope you have enjoyed the pictures. Until next time.....bye.

Love the Reeders!

Chicago

My awesome friend Amy treated Millie and I to a trip to Chicago a couple weekends ago. It was so much fun. We stayed with her good friend Harriet- who happens to live within walking distance of everything anyone would want to see in Chicago. We also got to spend some time with Amy's friend Lorette- she attended school with Kyle and Amy the first year of law school, but then transferred to Chicago after that. It was good to see her.

We had a great time...
- Dinner at Harriet's- very yummy...
- beach of Lake Michigan- Amy and I used the sand on the beach to naturally ex-foliate dead skin on our feet- it was very therapeutic
- American Girl doll store (see picture with Millie pushing dolls in stroller). Thank you Amy and Lorette for the Bitty Baby- Millie absolutely adores it!
- Cheese Cake Factory- yum!
- So many good places to eat, I couldn't even begin to name them all
- Navy Pier- Millie, Amy, and I went on the ferris wheel and carousel. Millie didn't want to go on the ferris wheel at first when she was asked, but then she said yes, and put her hands into fists and said "tight," meaning "yes, I do want to go, and I'll be okay because I'll hold on tight."
- Architechural tour of all the beautiful sky-scrapers on the Chicago river
-LDS church in Chicago- We made the time to go before we headed back home on Sunday

We had a great time and Millie did great sleeping at Harriet's and travelling in the car there and back.

Do NOT distract me!

I wanted to write something here, but I don't want to be too distracted from my present goal: reorganization and fung-shwae (somebody tell me how to spell that please) of my abode. We are moving from this place in 9 months, and by the time we go, I want to only possess what is really necessary. I don't want to move across the country with a whole bunch of junk that we don't really need (that's what we did when we moved from Utah to here). When we moved here, I kept way too much stuff that was not needed, and I don't want to repeat that mistake. As I've been parting with things that I thought I needed but really didn't, I've felt an imaginary weight being lifted from me. It feels so could to be free of stuff and not to value it so much. There really is very little that I actually need to keep and the more I part with stuff, the easier it is to part with more stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting rid of all I possess, I'm just realizing that my posessions aren't as needed as I percieved them to be.
The plan is not to add more stuff to our stuff either. Hopefully when we move, we will be happy with what we've got and choose not to accumulate more unnecessary stuff.
Check out thestoryofstuff.com to learn about stuff and why we truly don't need to accumulate so much of it, etc.
Have a good one. now I must continue on my quest for less.

Thank you for visiting Ann Arbor

We have been enjoying beautiful weather and it couldn't have come at a better time. Kyle's family came to stay with us this last week and it was nice that they got to enjoy Ann Arbor at its finest. We spent time with them doing various things around town. Kyle's bros Kurt and Kasey were the first ones to arrive here. They stayed from Friday to Thursday. Then Kyle's parents Lanell and Kerry and his sister Kohleen came from Tuesday to Saturday. So, the whole family was together for about 2 days.

With Kyle's bros, we...

- went to see the movie Hancock
- went to Gallop park (a beautiful park by the Huron river with lots of walking trails, etc)
- went to the Firefly Jazz club to listen to jazz
- Kyle, Kasey, and Kurt a driving range to hone-up their golf skills
- went to the farmer's market downtown wednesday
- ate Indian food downtown
- sat around relaxing and watching silly Millie

With Kyle's family, we...

- had a boys and girls night the first night we were together (Tuesday)
- the boys went to Connor O'Neils- an Irish eatery
- the boys (Kyle, Kurt, Kasey, and Kerry) went golfing
- the boys went to see the new Batman movie together
- the girls went to the Olive Garden to eat
- the girls went to the store to buy new nail polish- Millie chose a beautiful shade of pink and a royal red for us
- the girls painted nails- we were too tired to paint anyone's nails but Millie's
- Millie read books with Grandma Reeder
- the girls watched a movie- Lanell and I were sent to bed by Kohleen because we looked like zombies

We also...

- went to the farmer's market saturday
- walked on main street downtown- visited our favorite store, Ten Thousand Villages (we love it because it's 100% fair trade and everything is purchased from and hand made by villagers in underdeveloped countries)
- ate Greek food
- went swimming in our apartment complexes pool and got to witness Kurt, Kasey, and Kyle do amazing cannon-balls
- took Kurt and Kasey back to the airport
- visited the Detroit Institute of Arts (which is known as one of the best art museums in the nation). Millie got to touch a bronze donkey at the museum. She loved the donkey and aunt Kohleen purchased her a coin with a donkey on it at the gift shop- she loves the coin too because she already loved coin a lot.
- went to Plymouth Township Park- a park with fountains for kids to run through and fun sandboxes
- went to Greenfield Village (Greenfield Village is considered the first and largest outdoor museum in America. Nearly one hundred historical buildings were moved to the property from their original locations and arranged in a "village" setting. The museum's intent is to show how Americans lived and worked since the founding of the country. The Village includes buildings from the 17th century to the present, many of which are staffed by costumed interpreters who conduct period tasks like farming, sewing and cooking. A collection of craft buildings such as pottery, glass-blowing, and tin shops provide demonstrations while producing materials used in the Village and for sale. Greenfield Village has 240 acres (970,000 m²) of land of which only 90 acres (360,000 m²) are used for the attraction, the rest being forest, river and extra pasture for the sheep and horses.--- This is much for info than you wanted, but you got it anyways)
- Played at the park with Millie
- Visited Kyle at the library on Saturday where he was working so Lanell, Kerry, and Kohleen could hug him goodbye

Well, there you have it, we had a fun week!